There's a theory that says that where small indiscretions are ignored, larger ones will follow. The theory, known as the “broken window” effect, is most often illustrated using crime as an example. The argument says that if a building has broken windows and those windows are left unattended, the presence of the broken glass will encourage vandals to break more windows. If repairs are still not carried out, the message to the community is that no one really cares and that then leads to an escalat...
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Mind the Gap
The translation of an organizational need into a technical solution is a technology project’s core. That translation requires detailed knowledge of the organization’s operation environment (and their desired future state) to be married up with the technical skills from which the solution will be created. The size of the gap between those two pools of knowledge is a common source of troubled projects.
One project I recently observed had allowed a six step gap to form between the intended users...
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The Leadership Pendulum
One of the trends I’ve noticed over the years has been the growing importance of the Project Management role. When I first started work more than 20 years ago, many projects were lead by a Technical Leader rather than a Project Manager. Today most projects have a dedicated Project Manager.
The change is likely a reflection of the fact that many past failures could be attributed to poor planning and control. While appointing a dedicated Project Manager has clear benefits, we need to be careful...
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The Cycle of Failure
After the firefights subside and a troubled project finally draws to a close, many organizations hold an inquiry into what went wrong. In theory retrospectives help identify root causes so that subsequent projects can avoid repeating the same mistakes. In practice, despite the reviews, many organizations find they lurch from one troubled project and onto the next.
In many cases this failure to learn can be traced to the narrow perspective from which reviews are usually done. More often than ...
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Why Focus on Failure?
I'm often asked why I focus on the causes of project failure rather than placing a greater emphasis on projects that succeeded? I’ve been asked often enough that I’ve written the following post to allow a broader audience to understand the response.
“Although we tend to seek simple, single factored reasons for success, in most important things, success actually requires avoiding the many possible causes of failure” ... Jared Diamond (Pulitzer prize winner)
Being assigned to a large project...
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Externalization
Much like the famous twelve step program used for dealing with substance abuse, a first step in addressing the issues that lead to project failure is a willingness to admit that a problem exists.
Facing up to a mistake or being willing to take ownership for events that we feel reflect poorly upon us, is something that many find hard to do. In the political realm that exists whenever human beings interact, there is an inherent fear that an admission of failure will hold forth unimaginable cons...
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Top of the Pops
I recently carried out a review of the various “top 10 reasons for project failure” lists that pop up on the internet on a regular basis. These lists tend to be popular and as such are frequently referenced in training sessions and blogs.
Not surprisingly these lists have common themes. Collating the most frequent into one “top of the pops” list reveals the big three;
Changing requirements
Lack of stakeholder participation
Lack of vision / goal
Although such lists are fun and many ...
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